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2025 Novel Releases

I'm just a freelancer. Such scheduling decisions are way above my pay grade, but I can second Christopher that, chances are, they have less to do with the actual "in-universe" content of the books and more to do with boring, mundane, business-related issues: budgets, production delays, red tape, profitability, pricing, returns, etc. Including whatever else is going on with regards to Simon & Schuster or CBS or the economy in general.

As fans, we tend to assume that everything revolves around Star Trek and "canon," but, honestly, such publishing decisions are more likely to be based on P&L statements, last season's sales figures (for the entire company, not just the Trek books), mergers, staff turnovers, licensing issues, and so on.

Remember, the Trek books don't exist in a bubble apart from the rest of S&S's catalog. They're part of a larger publishing program, which is part of a larger publishing industry. Any general trends with regards to mass-market paperbacks, trade paperbacks, SF publishing, etc. are going to affect the Star Trek line as well.

Regardless of whatever new Trek series are currently airing or in the works.
 
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People are complaining that there are not enough new Star Trek novels, but when I asked if anyone's read them all, only one person had.

Apologies, but this seems like an odd counter-argument to me. I'm not sure what one really has to do with the other.

"I wish this restaurant had some new food choices available."

"But when I asked if you'd eaten everything on the menu, you said 'no'!"
 
Apologies, but this seems like an odd counter-argument to me. I'm not sure what one really has to do with the other.

"I wish this restaurant had some new food choices available."

"But when I asked if you'd eaten everything on the menu, you said 'no'!"
It's not the same thing. You can usually tell from the ingredients listed on the menu whether you're going to like the dish without having to eat it. You may not have eaten every dish on the menu, but if you're an adult, you've probably tried most of the individual ingredients at least once in your life.

With novels, there's no way to tell if you're going to like it without getting someone to spoil the entire novel for you.
 
It's not the same thing. You can usually tell from the ingredients listed on the menu whether you're going to like the dish without having to eat it. You may not have eaten every dish on the menu, but if you're an adult, you've probably tried most of the individual ingredients at least once in your life.

With novels, there's no way to tell if you're going to like it without getting someone to spoil the entire novel for you.

That has nothing to do with whether it's understandable for someone to want more Trek novels even if they haven't read all the old ones.
 
It's not the same thing. You can usually tell from the ingredients listed on the menu whether you're going to like the dish without having to eat it. You may not have eaten every dish on the menu, but if you're an adult, you've probably tried most of the individual ingredients at least once in your life.

With novels, there's no way to tell if you're going to like it without getting someone to spoil the entire novel for you.

Well, there are some "ingredients" listed on the books: the author, the particular Trek series, the characters involved, the plot as described in the promotional copy.

You can tell at a glance whether a book features a favorite writer, character, or Trek series, while the plot copy gives you more ingredients:

"Ooh, a new DS9 novel by one of my favorite writers, focusing on my favorite character, that's a sequel to one of my favorite episodes! This sounds right up my alley!"

Or the reverse. :)

Seriously, at this point Trek comes in lots of different flavors. We're all bound to have our preferences.
 
I've finished collecting the entire Star Trek novel run during the pandemic and had time to track everything down online. I've never counted, but I've probably only read 30-40 percent of the novels so far. At 50 years old, I don't think I'll ever actually complete everything, but I'm certainly going to try especially when I retire.

I would love to have more annual books, but there's a lot of classic books that I haven't read that I've enjoyed thoroughly and never would have read if I just focused on the modern era. I encourage everyone to take a deep dive into Voyages of the Imagination to find something interesting to grab online or at a brick and mortar book store. For me, the book selection process is the best part of reading different genres and titles!
 
Having grown up in the time that we averaged at least 24 novels per year, yeah, I do miss those days, especially now as more Trek is available than even then - I want more, even knowing the why we don't have them, and, y'know, there's also the issue of paying for them. My bank account is perfectly happy with the smaller release schedule, even if my heart is not.

Even in knowing the economic reasons that we're not getting the numbers that I want, it doesn't take away from that desire.
 
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